Town Planner Talks Post-Stratford Adventures

Stratford town planner David Killeen gets around a lot, as an active tourist, bicyclist, runner, hiker and kayaker.

He said he’s completed 12 marathons, a "Century" 100-mile bike ride and even a nighttime run through the woods of New Hampshire as part of a challenging relay race.

"I’ve had some interesting adventures," he said.

Killeen's next adventure, a new job, will take him out of Stratford. On Oct. 31, he takes over as the planning and zoning administrator in Monroe, where he will assist in making revisions to the zoning regulations and oversee applications to the planning and zoning commission and board of zoning appeals.

He will also implement recommendations included in the recent revision of Monroe’s Comprehensive Plan of Development.

It will be a change of pace for him. Stratford has separate zoning and planning commissions, and Killeen has been primarily responsible for the latter. In recent years, he has for the redevelopment plan for Stratford Center. Last week, the town of Stratford was awarded a $250,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation, which will go toward traffic-related concerns at a new Stratford Center.

Stratford won’t lose him entirely, however. Killeen has volunteered to help restore the historic Perry House on West Broad Street. He said he intends to continue helping that effort for the near future, but he is also looking forward to his new job in Monroe.

His daughter, son-in-law and grandson live in Monroe, and he expects to have dinner with them on those nights when the zoning boards have meetings scheduled. And his son lives nearby in Trumbull. He is a resident of West Haven.

At age 58, Killeen says he likes to keep active. "I find the more we do, the more we can do, and it’s good to keep mobility," he said.

Among the races he has run were marathons in Florence, Italy, and Athens, Greece. The latter, in 2003, approximated the historic route taken by Pheidippides, the soldier who carried the news of the Greeks’ victory over the invading Persians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., and was a preview of the course used in 2004 when Athens hosted the Olympic Games.

Killeen’s participation in the Athens race was used as a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity.

In 2009, he joined a 12-member team that raced against other teams in a 35-hour, 225-mile relay race from the White Mountains to Hampton Beach on the New Hampshire coast.

Killeen said his leg of the race required him to run at night through the woods of New Hampshire wearing a headlamp, which he described as "an interesting experience." And last year, he joined a 100-mile "Century" bicycle ride through Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

"I have a few more I want to do. I have my eye on the Great Wall of China," he said, meaning a marathon that follows the Great Wall for part of its route.